The chief contribution of this publication, from the perspective of its author who is a graduate of Egerton University and Africa International University, is its surfacing of contextual and linguistic clues to the narrator’s negative characterization of Noah.

The narrator’s first negative characterization of Noah, as per Dr. George Ogalo, is his emotional-laden response to perceived aggrievement. As regards Noah’s sense of aggrievement, there are two linguistic cues in Gen 9:24 that point to the same. There is the prepositional phrase, ל֖וֹ, which emphasizes that Noah is the victim of Ham‘s action however one understands that action to be. Then there is the verb ידע whose occurrence here Ogalo suggests parallels Est 4:1 where, after Mordecai learned (עַ דָי) all that had happened, tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, went out into the midst of the city, and cried out with a loud and bitter cry. In Gen 9:24 Ogalo proffers that the verb evokes a reaction that entails emotions.

Speaking of the evoked reaction, Ogalo is of the opinion that the mere act of pronouncing maledictions and blessing pronouncements certainly evokes emotions. More specifically, though, the hapax עֶ֥בֶד עֲבָדִ֖ים (“lowest of slaves”) in Gen 9:25 points at the extent that Noah felt offended and the emotions evoked in the process of malediction. These feelings, Ogalo adds, are also embodied in the repeated maledictions against Ham in verses 26 and 27

The narrator’s second negative characterization, assuming one agrees with Dr Ogalo’s take that the adjective קָּטָֽן does not refer merely to the birth order of Ham vis-à-vis his other two siblings but rather carries the meaning of “young” in the sense of Ham being little or insignificant, is a portrayal of the father-son relationship in terms of social power hierarchy with Ham as the less significant one and Noah as the superior one  

Yet another of the narrator’s negative characterization according to Ogalo is through the conjugation יֵּינ֑וֹ (“his wine”) consisting of the pronominal suffix (“his”) and the noun (“wine”). As is the case with 1 Sam 1:14 where Hannah is faulted for “her wine” albeit mistakenly, so is Noah derogatorily linked to wine through “his wine” in Gen 9:24.